Polymer swelling is a phenomenon that occurs when certain polymers absorb analytes, whereby expansion of the polymer can be used to create chemical sensors for artificial olfaction systems. Such systems are intelligent chemical instruments for the detection of volatile compounds and smells. Certain applications, such as gas chromatography, require high limits of detection (LOD) in order to detect volatile organic compounds. The LOD is usually defined as the analyte concentration that produces a response corresponding to three (3) times the standard deviation (std) of the background noise signal.
While there exists several micromechanical sensor technologies for chemical sensing, such as cantilever, Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW), and Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM), there is a need to develop new devices that are better suited for applications that require a large dynamic range, field deployment, and passive remote interrogation.